Engine-starting device.



W. l. HARP,

ENGINE STARTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION msn FEB. 19. |917.

l250,449. mma De.18,1917.

T o all whom t may Concern.'

Galax, in the county of Grayson and State 1Devices; and I do, declarethe following to be a full, clear, and eXact description fof Vtheinvention, such as will enable others Askilledl'in the art to which itkmake and use the same.

WILLIAM ISAAC HARP,

applicati@ sied February 19,1917. serial iro. 149,574. v

` Be it lknown that I, VILLIAM I. HARP, a citizen of the United States,residing at of Virginia, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Engine-Starting appertains to .This'invention relates tovnew and useful improvements in attachments for internal *combustionengines, particularly for the starting mechanism thereof.

The principal object of the invention is to 'provide mechanism of thischaracter which will positively prevent injury to the 0perator duringthe cranking o f the engine as a result of bacleiring. I c

An additional object is to Yprovide means lwhereby the starting crankwill be autofinatically disengaged from the crank shaft *of the engineimmediately upon the backf Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device;

crank.

' end of an automobile showing e Fig. 4 is a central vertical section onthe :plane of the line 4.-4 of Fig. 2; 40.

ring of the latter. e IVith these and other objects in View. the yinvention resides in the novel features of construction, combination andarrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more pariticularlydescribed and claimed and shown .in the drawings wherein;

Figure l isa perspective view of the front ny improved attachmentapplied to the starting crank thereof;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation;

Fig View;

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the stationaryy ring; and Y Fig.7 is a similar view of the loop designed to hold the handle of thestarting 5 is a vertical transverse Vsectional In the accompanyingillustration,in which similar reference characters indicate like .parts,the invention is shown applied to van automobile ofthevFordtype,although it is -Alvobvious that it may be used on stationary or marineengines as well as other types of automobile engines. A Y

ENGINE-STARTING DEVICE.Y

Specicaton of Letters Bateiit. Pgltqgnted Dec,

, form illustrated, the

f front cross bar F by Vried by the block Ian OF GALAX, VIRGINIA) Thedevice consistsibroadly of a ratchet I mechanism and means for'connecting the `crank C thereto. In automobiles` of -the a bearingblock .B supported betweenjthe lfront-crossbar F of the vehicle franieand f the bottom of thev radiator R, and is detachably connected to theend of the crank shaft ,y S of the engine by means 'of the ratchetA.

T he bearing block Bis held in place on the a pair of U-bolts 1 whichextendthrough openings in ears carupper ends.

The stationary portion of `the ratchet mechanism of thepinvention issecured by thesej U-bolts to the front cross bar,and consists of aplate-like ring 3 of any desired have nuts 2 on their craiikC isjournaled Vin diameter which has ears i extending from' its Aoppositesides. These ears are preferably formed integrally with the ring v3,they being cut from the metal forming the ring and bent into the` properposition, as shown,

and are reinforced by the portions 5. In addition tol beingextendedfoutwardly from the edge of the. plate, these ears are alsodisposed 'rearwardly Yof the rear face of the ring so that when thesameare attached to the threaded ends of the lU-bolts l, the plate'Ywill be spaced outwardly slightly from the bearing block B.

Rotatably-inounted within'the opening 6 "of the stationary or outer ring3 is an inner ring'7, the outer diameter of Vwhich is" slightly lessthan the diameter of the opening G. This inner ring 7 is provided withacentral'opening 8 of sufiicient sizeto receive Ythe shankV 9 of thecrankC. The periphery plu- `rality'of slits 10 in which are disposedstiff yleaf springs 11, the outerends of the same projectingsubstantially tangentially fromA of the innerV ring 7 is formed withrathe ring and in the same direction. These springs 11 form dogs forengagement withV `Vratchet teeth l2 cut'in lthe wall of the opening G ofthe stationary ring 3 and thus prevent the rotation of the inner ringexcept in one direction,

a clock-wise direction. n Thenner rotatable ring is held in positionwithin the opening inthe stationary ring by' means of the cover plates13,5oneof which is disposed over the inner while the ioo and in thepresent instance i,

other covers the outer side of the opening 6, said plates being.preferably circular and/of a diameter somewhat lessl thanthe diameter ofthe ring 3. A plurality of bolts lfexof the crank C thereto,this part ofthe crank extending through the loop, as illustrated. -The ends of thearms 18 and 19 of the loop are screwthreade`d and extended throughalined openings in the ring 7 and plates 13 f and provided with nuts 20,thereby securely attachingthe loop to the innerring and also providingmeans for aidingin holding said ring and the plates 13 together.

The arm 18 of the yoke is so bent as to form a pair of seats 21 and 22,the former being adjacent the outer plate 13 and is f adaptedto-receivethe `handle portion 17 of the crank when the latter is beingused to start the engine. The inclination of the inwardly bent part-23of the arm 18 readily hoids said crank in the seat 21 while theVAcranking operation 1s taking place. As' soon, 35

`.crank has been released, the usual spring on however, as the engine'is started and the the shank 9.of the lcrank will force the samevoutwardly so as to disengage the ratchet A,

4whereupon the portion 17 of the crank may rest within the seatf22.I/Vhenfthe crank has been disposed in the seat 22 it may be held in anyposition relative to the ground,

since the springs 11 will engage the teeth 12 and hold thelrotatableportion #of the ratchet mechanism.l to which the crank is connected,stationary. y A

The other arm 19 lof the loop is adapted Ato engage the ,portion 17 ofthe crank C when the engine back-fires 4and toy cause the same to bedisengaged from the crankshaft *Sand thereby prevent injury to ltheoperator. In carrying out-this function' said -arm 19 is inclinedoutwardly from its inner -to `its outer lend relative to the outer platekSince the engagement ofl the springs .1.1 with the teeth 12 ofthe-stationaryratchet member will prevent the crank from being rotatedin one direction, kit is obviousthat :as soon asthe crank, which hasbeen caused to move in a counter-clock-wise direction by the backrin-gof the'engine, has ystruck the inclined arm 19, the innerend will bedisengaged Vfrom -the crank shaft as above nIentiGned.

the

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing,

itwili be seen that a very simply constructed vmechanism has beenproduced which will rpositively prevent ingury as a result of theback-iiring of an internal combustion engine vwhen the same is appliedto the crank thereof. All of the parts are very simply yetstronglyconstructed, and may be inexpensivelymanufactured. The device asdesigned may be applied to practically any type of internal combustionengine with only a slight modification of the means for positioning thestationary part of the ratchet.

Y I-claimz- 1. The combination with a crankshaft and a starting crankhaving a detachable engagement therewith', of a ratchet member rotatablein one direction, and a substantially U-shaped loop carried by 'saidmember and surrounding the crank, one arm ofk said` loop having a seatto receive the crank when the same is rotated to hold its-end 1nengagement with the crank shaft.V

2. The combination with a crank shaft and a starting crank having adetachable en- A gagement therewith, of a ratchet member said loophaving a seat' to receive the crank'95 when the same is rotated to holdits end in engagement with the crank shaft, the other 'arm of said loopbeing inclined outwardly from its inner toward its outer end relative tothe member, whereby when said crank' is caused to engage the same by thebackfiring of the engine, its end will be disengaged from the end of thecrank shaft.

3. In a device of the class described, a fixed ring having ratchet teethon its inner edge, a second and inner ring rotatable within the fixedring, a dog carried by the Vinner ring for engagement with the ratchetteeth on the outer ring, plates contacting with the opposite sides ofsaid iixed ring and covering the opening therein, said plates havingcentral openings, means connecting said plates with the inner ring, acranky eX- tending through said central openingsin the'plates and innerring, and means for connecting the crank with said inner ring andplates.

4. In a device of the class described, va fixed ring having ratchetteeth onits inner edge, a second inner ring rotatable within the fixedring, a dog carried by the inner ring for engagement with the ratchetteeth on the outer, plates disposed over each side of said fixed ringand covering the opening means for connecting said plates with the innerring, a crank extending through said central opening in the plates andinner ring,

a U-shapedloo'p, the ends of the arms of said my hand in the presence oftwo "subscribing loop extending through said inner ring and Witnesses.

. plates, and nuts on the ends of said arms to WILLIAM ISAAC HARP.

secure said loop to the inner ring and plates,

to hold the latter together, said loop receiv- Witnesses:

ing said crank. R. B. CoUoH, In testimony whereof I have hereunto set P.S. PHrPPs.

copies of this patent my be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner ut Patente, Washington, D. c.

